Published May 2005 in Coffee Press Journal. Copyright to J. Donald Coonrod.

The steps
to my basement
are steep, secluded,
ending in pale cement
at the laundry room
where all traces
of soiled humanity
are washed out,
effortlessly spun
into the sewer.


I descend
into my soul
carefully concealed,
no lights there,
just coldness
subconscious spinning
sins into beautiful crystals
of ego,
an elegant opaque layer
of atonement.